Kant

Probably Deulofeu is going to start the next few years there, but I think Martinez is giving him and Stones a good lesson: Work your socks off or there will be other almost as good player willing to do it while you warm the bench. Stones = Funes Mori. Deulofeu = Lennon. Both were not as tough and as professional, Stones due to some off-the-field antics and soft defending and Deulofeu for not tracking back. Funes Mori was there, and Lennon is there, training every single day and giving their all, and they are delivering good performances and goals. We criticise Martinez when he sticks with the same, we criticise him to rotate and we criticise him to buy / sell almost every player. But at least I think he's fair and right with Lennon. Lennon has been watching Deulofeu play for half a season and now he looks like he's on top form so why would not he deserve his run on the side? Last week he was great despite the loss (2-3) and yesterday he was again working well.

If Martinez wants Stones to stay he better give him some chances, I'm sure he thinks Funes Mori and Jagielka look great but Stones is the 3rd and will want play time. An injury to Jagielka should not mean a huge crisis anymore.

He was supposed to be very good when he was young but never got the chance to play regularly early in his career. He's got the frame and the looks of a decent keeper that can become very good, but he needs to be more commanding. Let's see if there is something in there of that alleged potential.

Pepe Mel has never been the hottest managerial property anywhere. He got promoted with Betis, the 2nd team of the city of Seville and the 8th historically in titles, then he always gets them to play well but at some point the team implodes and he gets the sack. I was shocked to hear that he signed for WBA, he barely spoke English and he has no record of achievement. Quique Sanchez Flores has some degree of success, Benitez was very successful, but not Pepe Mel. Even Juande Ramos had some success, although it is important to say that in Spain the manager is a Head Coach, and there is always a Spoting / Football director that signs the players. They work with what they have most of the times. For example: Simeone does not sign players, neither did Guardiola or does Luis Enrique. They may suggest but it will be another person deciding and negotiating.

What journos seem to miss is that Guardiola is obsessive in his pressing (extremely high up the pitch) and it's the most important rule. The game played on the opposite half. Martinez is definitely not doing that, and I don't recall BR doing it either. The other manager that does it is Pochettino and it works wonders for him.

http://royalbluemersey.sbnation.com/2016/3/6/11168678/everton-west-ham-united-tactical-analysis-roberto-martinez-aaron-lennon

I don't say he doesn't offer a lot. I like Baines as a player. What I say is that the three attributes you mention are excellent to use on offense. If you consider running the bulk of play through the right, the left side suddenly does not need this style. Oviedo is faster, more mobile, and is also quite decent with the ball. Deulofeu is also a Martinez Player (brought here and given confidence here after a dismal loan spell at Sevilla) and he's being benched lately.

I think TC is playing because he reinforces the CM. He is a solid player, but he adds to CM instead of having wing play on the left. Our game is pretty much sided to the right now. Lennon is leaving Geri out on form purely, he's everywhere and doing well. Why should it not be the case? It helps as well that Coleman bombs forward as much as he can. I also think that's the reason why Oviedo is playing ahead of Baines: without a special focus on the left side of the attack, Baines doesn't add that much and he's a worse defender than Oviedo because he's getting slow.

There are many more than decent players with lack of technical ability, for example Eto'o comes to my mind. He was lightning fast, though, and improved superbly with playtime, but still, to put it in a soft way, technical ability was not his main strength. As long as he know where the goal is and how to contribute to a team, I'm happy. Let's wait and see.

Not really, for example: for Spanish teams not Real Madrid or Barcelona, if any PL team comes knocking the price for them is £10m. For any other Spanish team the price would be €3m (as no one else can afford £10m). The PL teams, the top teams in Europe and the Chinese league are very wealthy compared to the rest of clubs, and the markets adjust to that.

I can see the logic on the idea of bringing a second striker to attach the long post from the left while you overload the right side. However, when that chap is Kone, we should change the idea. I like the idea of a dangerous passer with great close control to open the defense with nice split pass. However, when that option is Osman or Pienaar, we should reevaluate our options. I like the idea of inserting a dribbling maverick in Deulofeu to try to get a pen on tired legs. Lennon was playing well though and perhaps he should have done a different sub? It is like the talent evaluation happened at the beginning of the season for Martinez and he can't look how poor Kone has been lately... Mirallas must have missed that day too, because he is a peripherial figure at best.

Keeping Kone out of the side is a net positive impact on the side, it's hard to be worse that Kone.

I love how some people always get it right after the game. WBA is one of those teams that, if you manage to break the lock, the goals flow and they get tonked easily. If you don't, it is hard as nails as the players get impatient. Of all the discussions we have had on previous games, today we did not score because of the post and because it is actually hard for any team to break down 10 man in the box. Another no. 10 on the team could help, though.

Have the feeling that Martinez's concept of loyalty will make him stick to Howard until the end of the season, then do the required changes. I don't know why he only changes his perception of players from season to season, and I'll be very happy the moment Howard is out of town. Of course, if Robles plays I will be delighted but I have the feeling that the players accept Howard is No. 1 and Robles is No. 2 and Martinez fears the dressing room effect of a switch in the pecking order. I feel the effect will be positive, instead of the negative Martinez imagines, but to be a young coach he's quite conservative on this aspect.

He needs to add goals to his game, then we can start talking. Up to now he's more of a very good one trick pony. I think Deulofeu can be really good in a few years, but at the moment Lennon is leaving him out of the side with his excellent workrate.

Barkley seldom tries to press or defend, even less than Lukaku. That would kill our high pressing game aims.

Punches more, but also looks quite solid on most of the things he does. Something I noticed, he's not scared of kicking it far away to Lukaku. I feel this has helped the team tremendously, as Lukaku is winning most of the headers and also our lines regroup. Same trend with Jags and Funes Mori, when they feel they can play short passes they do, but when they doubt they aim for the big man up front and we look much more solid.

You lost me here definately. By comparison with the top 6 I would say: - Goalkeeper: Very far away. Only Mignolet is as weak as Howard. De Gea, Hart, Cech, Courtois and Lloris are top notch. - Defense: Two good full backs that are weak defending, three good CB underperforming. Then again, on the comparison I do not think that they are that far away from the rest of the league, but they leak goals with incredible individual mistakes. - Central midfield: As much as I love Barry - McCarthy, they are not Schweinsteiger - Schneiderlin, or Cazorla - Coquelin or Fabregas - Matic. They would be on the lower end of the 2nd tier (with Liverpool and Tottenham ones) - Wingers: I feel Deulofeu has been performing very well, Mirallas / Kone not so much. However, the wingers of all the other top 6 teams are pure quality, I don't think we are close to this. Maybe Deulofeu becomes De Bruyne or Hazard one day, but it will not be this year or the next. - Attacking midfielders: Barkley. Let's compare to: Eriksen, Silva/Yaya Toure, Coutinho, Mata/Herrera/Rooney, Fabregas/Oscar, Ozil. Again, for me, quite a distance there. - Strikers: Lukaku is top notch and his performances have been very good this season. This is a department I'm confident it is a match. Not everyone has an Aguero on their team, but the Girouds and Kanes are on par if not inferior. Bench: We are nowhere near the top tier (City, Chelsea and United spend loads of cash on subs like Herrera, Fellaini, Pedro or Bony). The second tier (Liverpool and Tottenham) is much closer. To summarise, yes we can and should compete with anyone, but with a top 6 finish I would be happy. Obviously the league position is nothing to be proud of at the moment, but to demand competition and top four seems some distance away. If all the young talent flourishes, or if a big money player is sold (Stones?) and new signings are made to improve the team, maybe the expectations can change. For me this is what the situation is at the moment.

On Youtube highlights seems to know what he's doing and I did not see any "weird technics". Pretty basic but effective stuff. It is hilarious however that this guy seems to shoot as soon as he has the chance when this team almost never shoots and always goes for the extra pass.

In all honesty, we will never know. I'd say that he should still express himself on offense, but please, keep marking like last year, not like this year. At any case, on the PL game the strategy worked, on this one it did not. Let's hope that the group focuses on the PL and racks a few wins. This is a really good team with some elementary failures (lack of intensity, drop deep too much to defend) so let's see how the season ends. Signings like Funes Mori give me hope.

It takes a season of moaning, sulking and the general feeling that he feels he's too good to play for the club. You can make an error on one game, try hard and hey, we all make mistakes. When we know you've been making mistakes because you feel you are too good (errors on passes that create a chance for the opposition, marking errors that a focused Stones does not do...), yep, you deserve the stick.

Excellent signing. Have to say, I loved the Stones of last season, but this season he's been very poor. Take the £50m and run (if anyone offers them again). City are very talented, but Deulofeu missed the 1-2 and tie over, and they were lucky with the deflection and the 2nd goal. Now let's get the lads focused on the league and claim that 6-7th spot.

Some of the players look very tired (Lukaku in particular). They try, but their form is not the best. If Stones is a £50m players is definitely because of what he can become, not what he is now. He believed his own hype and this season he's nothing but average. As this team seems to turn for the big games, let's see how they do against Manchester City.

I feel that the talent we have now is not coping with the increased expectations of playing well. Some of the mental f*ck-ups are unbeliavable for pros, and some of them are excellent pros (like Jags). If we lose one of the big two, and we can replace it with 3 or four more players at the same level as the Deulofeu, Besic, Mori... it will be all right. There are not so many good strikers as Lukaku, so I reckon that losing Stones would be less damaging than losing Lukaku, and the top teams need him more. Barcelona could pay up to £50m to land their perfect CB, we'd never play him again unless CL and if you can find another Funes Mori I'll be ecstatic. The picture changes a lot if what they bring in is another Alcaraz, though.

As another sports manager said recently (Sam Hinkie, GM of the 76ers), most of the managerial decisions are based on probability. There is a 1 in 2 chance that this player becomes good, there is a 1 in 3 that the other becomes solid on a key attribute, or there is a 1 in 10 chance that this player becomes a superstar and we are going to stay away from him... To acquire a lot of promising youngsters is quite a good approach to mitigate the odds of all of them turning mediocre. For every Lukaku there will be an Anichebe, for every Deulofeu there will be a Velios. But, with time, you only need 11 starting players. I'm quite happy with the players aged <25 Martinez has signed so far, the team is doing a great job at this. Lukaku, Deulofeu, McCarthy, Funes Mori, Besic look like great players in the making that can play for 5 o 6 years for the club. Combine it with the excellent development of Galloway and Stones and there is something in the making. All the old duds he brought in from Wigan (Alcaraz and Kone) were squad rotational players that, frankly, have dissapointed. However, they have stopped this type of signings and the other two veteran lads RM brought in (Barry and Cleverly) are 1 English internationals and 2 seasoned players that want to win. Coleman has been stagnant for a while and his level has dropped from two seasons ago when he had a career year, so there is another U23 lad coming in (hopefully) that looks good. I see this kind of replacements as the way forward.